Sample – Portfolio 2009

AWSD keys for Red Car
Arrow keys for Blue Car

The goal of the game is to collect the balloons of your cars color first and set your RECORD TIME!
Bump into the other player and get them out of bounds so it takes them longer to get their balloons!

The first time we thought of this game, it was so much more complicated. We wanted to add shooting and timing, and multiple levels. But deep down I guess we, Brian and I, both knew that this type of gaming wasn’t exactly our level. In the end, the shooting was removed and we stuck to one level. Although we did this, we found a way to make the game fun and new. We let the cars bump into each other and made the green spaces an ‘out of bounds’ area. The ideas that were coming in made up for the much more difficult ones that we got rid of.

I would say the only problem was the time.

The timing was difficult because we really wanted to keep the ‘best time’ so that it could make up for the ‘challenging’ levels. Mr. Bertoia said we could do that though. We tried really hard to find a way to keep “best time’ in, but it became even more difficult when Brian had to leave for Swim Team MRISA. Here, I worked with Mr. Bertoia into finding a possible solution to a problem. In the end, we were able to create a certain ‘formula’ that allowed the BLUE car to keep their best score. Red Car still says their score though.

In the video, you will find that the Blue car wins more because we need to show you how the BEST TIME works. You can see that when Blue Car wins in the last one, but the best time doesn’t change, is because he did better in the previous one.

From doing this Scratch Project I learned how taking your time in creating a project is very important, especially in gaming. In gaming, to find a certain formula, you have to think it through and find possibilities on how you think your game will work. It is not a matter of chance or luck, but more of putting together the pieces and finding out what’s right. I also learned more commands on Scratch and different ways to perform an action now.

I mean, I don’t think anyone would read this. Perhaps it’s because there is no reason to.

But, for those who are reading this, thanks for taking your time to. I’m not going to talk about much.

Or maybe I will.

I left SSIS; It’s only been 4 months, but I can’t stand this place. I want to go back. That badly, yeah.

Nothing’s wrong with my grades. I have O-K friends, and I still play basketball. But it’s not the same. Change is hard. I realize now that it’s what I fear the most. And I repeat, I don’t know why I’m doing this. Maybe it’s to let my feelings out, since I’ve been keeping them in for quite awhile.

The school’s claustrophobic and empty. Trapped. There are no ocean-blue lockers in the hallways with colorful stickers on them anymore. Mottled. Just blank, white, empty walls; with a few black benches here and there. There are no windows–windows where the rays of the sun can enter, not only giving light to the classroom, but to the people in the room. That’s why the atmosphere was always so…calm. Here, it’s noisy, and it echoes, bouncing off the walls of the room. Does that sound weird? Anyways, I’ll continue. Lunch is a drag. If I think about 8th grade Recess, I always remember that one long table that we would all stay in–the one right beside the smoothie stand. But here, everyone’s split into their own cliques, kind of like in High School Musical. Apparently there was some drama that happened a year before I came. So what, no more forgiving and forgetting? Right.

I eat lunch in the hallway, on one of those black benches near a corner, with a few of my close friends. I don’t think I can eat with my other friends because one clique could dislike another: who knows? I don’t. No one tells me much, and I don’t want to hear it anyway, because it isn’t any of my business. Oh, did you know we have this thing called RTV? A variety show. I think I passed the auditions. I think.

I was voted Secretary of my class, COLUMBIA, and we’re going to Leadership Training Camp soon. Our country for United Nations week is China. I’m learning Chinese, and it’s a pain. Someone tell Senor Medina that I miss him, and I still “hablo en espanol.” I have PE/Gym once a week, on Monday’s, when everyone’s groggy and tired. The school doesn’t have their own gym, so we travel to a sports club. Takes up about 5-10 minutes of our PE/GYM time, no biggy, right? The awesome basketball games we used to play during Recess and Lunch? There’s nothing like that here. The girls dislike gym. Noooo!

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately, like the Hunger Games series, The Underland Chronicles and the Claidi Journals. Inspired, I started writing a book. It’s called “The City of Beryl.” (For now). See my header? Those are the characters, Avira (girl) and Kieran (boy). I still draw, and I’ve decorated my room with tons of my work. I miss Art class, now. Say hi to Mrs. Johnson for me.

What’s the point of this blog? I’m just as clueless as you are, reader; teacher; friend. But, anyone would love to write about their experiences, especially if it’s something completely different. Not a lot of my friends keep in touch, so I tend to miss them. I always think they’re busy with homework. That’s usually the reason. So maybe that’s one good thing about my school. No homework. Yeah, life has it’s good points.

Thanks for taking your time reading this.

Missing you, and everyone there. Will visit soon. Hopefully.

-Justine

P.S. I’m taller, so be prepared. Ha-ha-ha.

Your digital identity; Your digital dossier; These are what makes you YOU, and what you are online. Your birthday, your full name, places you’ve been, sites you’ve commented on, websites or blogsites you’ve joined…

What we have to be aware of is that this information can be seen by other people. We have to be aware about our status updates on facebook, making sure we didn’t add any information that could be used by other people. We have to be sure that what we are blogging about is appropriate, and won’t give away important information. WE HAVE TO BE AWARE OF THE PHOTO’S WE POST AS WELL! My photos consist of the times I was still in the Philippines, school there, and school in Vietnam too! Sometimes, when we find old photos, we are now able to scan them and post them online! WHEN I WAS A BABY! An experience I had was going onto facebook and finding out I was tagged to almost 2000 photos.  I was unaware of this, but I did know that most of these photos were under my privacy setting of “only friends”, but now I’m worried about the others.

Some leaking of information and un-supervised sites or sites with no privacy may lead to cyberbullying: Which I have experienced just a few days ago. Formspring, facebook, multiply, friends; All these sites have information about YOU where other people can learn about you. Even strangers.

It gets scarier every time I think about it. I have learned so much from being able to “Google” myself and finding out where I was before. All of this is left on the internet.

And anyone can find it… Anyone.

“…I have a daughter on Facebook [as well] and she’s the generation where every aspect to her life is documented, if not on Facebook, somewhere online and to know that’s going on is scary,” Henderson said.

After reading this post on KELOLAND.com about “Your Digital Dossier”, I was frightened. I myself have a facebook, and wondered if documents that I had posted in the past, or sites I have been to and commented on; Is that where my Digital Identity extends?

“A lot of people have Facebook, Twitter.  You can Google anyone’s name and it pulls up some information. I’m not surprised the information is out there.  There’s information in the phonebook. It’s different seeing it all in one place,” KELOLAND News Producer Tyson Plastow.

GOOGLE? Fine, then. So, I Googled myself.

And I have never been so surprised.

I had posted comments and joined sites when I was in the Philippines before; such as www.multiply.com, or Friendster, and apparently my name was added to a site called ‘blogspot’ of which my Grade 6 class created a site for us.

Of course, there were also other sites where I SWEAR I did not go to. This was probably another person in the world who has the same name as I.

But to be able to see my “identity” posted online. Where other people can also read and see about who I am. The fact that “Our digital footprints are made up from all the data we leave behind from every digital interaction. That footprint grows as we engage further and more deeply with the digital economy.” is true… makes me wonder from how far back does this extend?

“I don’t think they have proven to be trustworthy to be the owners of our online identity. So that really spoke to me when I saw they were spreading out beyond just their website and becoming a platform for the web.” (as from Today’sTHV.com) Not many people know about facebook, and this can be good in a way. But

I learned that privacy is very important. We must learn more about privacy in order to avoid things such as cyber-bullying. If we want to protect our digital identity, our digital dossier, we must take the next step! (Read on! PART 2!)

SITES: http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6373.cfm?Id=100252

http://www.silicon.com/technology/security/2010/04/30/data-privacy-who-really-owns-the-digital-you-39745758/

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=105475&catid=2

In Social Studies class, we have recently learned about the Civil War. We were supposed to write a summary about the Civil War, but this was all that was given to us. We didn’t know if we had to follow the writing process and brainstorm and write an outline. The majority of the class, I believe, did not follow the writing process. Most of us also went online instead of using our notes that we had taken in/during class. In the end, our teacher asked us for the writing process, of which most of us actually did not do. In the end, she told us that this was a test on whether we would still use what we’ve been learning to write a proper summary. I learned that I should take these assignments more seriously because I wouldn’t know if they would be the final test.  In the end, she told us to write a reflection on what we should have done, what we did differently and what grade we believed we deserved to receive depending on what we did.

Before we ended our chapter on “comprar” or SHOPPING, Senior had given us worksheets in order to create a story or script out of the pictures. I learned how to create a story using the knowledge I had over what we learned about ‘comprar’. I know we learned how to conjugate it, Compro, Compras, Compra, Compramos and Compran. (We ignore vosotros) I also learned about how to be a shopkeeper, or what to say when you want something. A shopkeeper would say, “En que le puedo servir?” (How may I serve you?) while the customer MIGHT SAY, “Nada mas, estoy mirando.” (Nothing really, I’m just looking) At least, that’s what I do sometimes. Simply window-shopping, hehe.

Here are 2 stories that I created from 2 worksheets that Senior handed out to us.

First Story

Dos amigos, Victor y Carlos, se fueron al centro comercial a comprar y gastar su dinero.

Primero, fueron a la tienda de musica y comprar sus discos compactos favoritos.

Luego se fueron a la heladeria para tomaron un batido.

Despues de beber, que fue a la tienda de ropa. Victor comprar los pantalones vaqueros que le gusta.
Se compro porque los azules y los similares a los pantalones vaqueros que lleva.

Para el almuerzo se fueron a la plaza de comida. Ellos compraron hamburguesas, los papas fritas, los refrescos y postre.

Antes de que salieron del centro comercial, fueron a la tienda de zapatos.
Carlos comprar sandalias cafe, y eran la ultima moda, pero eran muy caros.

Porque a que pagaron una fortuna, no tenian mas dinero para comprar su camisetas favoritas.

Second Story

Teresa quiso ir de compras, pero su mejor amigo estaba enfermo. Le dijo a su hermano, Emilio, para ir al centro comercial con ella.
Él no quería, pero su mamá le dijo que fuera.

Teresa y Emilio fue a una tienda única. Su nombre es “La tienda de la última moda!” Usted puede encontrar todo tipo de ropa allí,
como zapatos, camisas, pantalones y mucho más.

Teresa se fue a la esquina de zapatos y sandalias vio. “Me gustan mucho!” ,ella dijo.
Emilio mirar los zapatos y dijo: “Que caras!”

Teresa estaba triste, pero mientras caminaba vio botas nuevas.
Ella sonrió y preguntó: “¿Puedo comprar esto, hermano?”
“Cuánto dinero necesita para comprar las botas?” , preguntó.
Teresa fue a hablar con el dependiente. Ella preguntó: “¿Cuánto cuestan las botas?”
El dependiente dijo: “Cuestan doscientos cincuenta dólares.”

Emilio dijo: “No son baratas!”
Teresa estaba triste porque esta botas es mas bonita que esa sandalias, pero las sandalias cuestan menos que las botas.

Por último, Teresa encontró una blusa que era mucho más bonita que las botas y sandalias. Eran mucho más a la última moda de las botas.
Ella llevaba y preguntó a Emilio, “Como me queda la blusa?”
Emilio, cansado de ir de compras, dijo: “Te queda mal!” y salió de la tienda.
Teresa se enojó y se fue a Emilio. Lo agarró del brazo y le preguntó por qué estaba tan enojado.

Él dijo, “Sólo estoy cansado. Y no tengo dinero. Gasté una fortuna en un juego de vídeo”.

Teresa se sorprendió. Se fueron de compras, pero no compró nada.

In Science Class, we have been learning about the Carbon Cycle. The Carbon Cycle is about the mixture of carbon with all of its surroundings. I learned that Carbon likes to attach to other elements, especially OXYGEN, which forms CO2. CO2 or Carbon Dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases trap the heat in the earths atmosphere, and the more there are, the hotter it becomes on Earth. I learned about how the burning of Fossil Fuels produces more carbon. I also learned about Carbon Footprints, which represent the things we’ve done that produced Carbon in our lives. I am willing to change myself to help balance the carbon cycle, even in my own little way.

Science Carbon Cycle

This is also a video that shows that shows that I learned about the Carbon Cycle and that everyone, should Reuse, Reduce, Recycle!

In Math Class, we just finished our topic about Slopes. I learned about the 4 different kinds of slopes and how to graph them on a grid. A Positive Slope slants up, a Negative Slopes slants down, A Horizontal Line has no slope, while a Vertical Line’s Slope is undefined. Our Math teacher gave us a worksheet in order to see how well we were doing with our slopes, and I’m happy to say I did well. I also learned how to place points correctly on a grid by reading the coordinates correctly.

Is this MATH?

In Art Class, we had free time as we were waiting for our clay to dry up.  I was actually working on FREE DRAWING for my manga when Ms. Johnson approached me and offered me an idea. She said I could use sand paper and scratch it over the surface of a postcard in order to roughen a certain area and create a certain texture. Not only would it feel different, but the color would also be lighter. I wasn’t exactly ‘pro’ at this, and nothing may have changed exactly from the post card, but I realized some shadings were a lot lighter and the texture was definitely different. I learned how to create different textures and paint in different shadings, all thanks to SAND PAPER. [:

ART

In Language Arts, we are currently reading poems by Emily Dickinson. I learned that Emily Dickinson was a famous poet who would lock herself up in her room and write many poems for hours. Her death wish was for her sister to burn her poems that were wrapped in a blue ribbon, but her sister didn’t follow her wish and published her poems. Emily Dickinson has over 2000 different poems. In Language Arts, Ms. McKinnon is now teaching us how to write poems; using correct meaning of words, or comparing things metaphorically or with simile. From creating this poem, I learned the different ways to compare different things. I also learned how to use even just one word, but still make a big impact to the meaning of the poem.

Besides, comparing a tiger and a train is pretty difficult… so I’m pretty proud about this.

Poem 585 Revision

Poem 585 Revision